Airbnb’s Tasty New Feature: Restaurant Reservations

Now you can book a room and your restaurant rezzies all in the same app.

How many times have you wished that you could book all of your hotel and restaurant reservations in the same place? If your answer is “many times,” then you’ll be delighted to know that home-sharing platform Airbnb is about to make your dreams come true. If your answer is “never,” well, then, maybe just keep doing what you’re doing?

Airbnb, which allows users to… oh, you already know what Airbnb is. The company announced on Wednesday that users will now be able to complement their home rentals with “curated” restaurant reservations in 16 cities across the US, including New York, LA, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans and Nashville. The curation and reservation capability is made possible by technology from the Resy application, in which Airbnb invested $13 million at the beginning of the year. Resy, which charges fees in exchange for prime reservations at upscale restaurants, is Airbnb’s foray into the food industry, and will put the company in more direct competition with other reservation platforms like OpenTable. Airbnb plans to expand this feature to international markets over the course of the coming months.

Can’t find your favorite restaurants in these apps? Try picking up the phone and calling. Or you could just go to Canada and try the app for coffee and stories, eh.

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About Ethan L. Johns

Ethan is the Food News Writer at Genius Kitchen. An expert on the Parisian bistrot, he likes bitters and salted butters, and is no fan of dessert unless it's made with fruit. His hobbies include reading up on the history of borscht and attempting to roll perfect couscous by hand. Twits & Instagram @EthanLJohns